Village Homes is located on the south side of the town of Davis in Northern California.  It is considered to be the first successful "green" community in the United States.   Designed and built on the principles of sustainable development, Village Homes is the granddaddy of sustainable communities.   My exposure to this community came in November of 2002 while I was visiting relatives for Thanksgiving.  I had originally heard about Village homes in my Permaculture class as being one of the most successful green communities in the United States. I had heard of how the developer, Michael Corbett, had such a hard time selling the city of Davis on the idea of this radically different development.  It took a change in the city council and the election of Corbett as mayor to finally get the development started.  The village was built with people and community in mind.  If the local politicians had had their way, this village would have never been built.  The ideas behind it were too radical for the city leaders and engineers.   I was given the grand tour by a wheelchair bound resident named Paul as he was out for a stroll with his dog.  Paul is able to wheel completely around the village with only one street crossing. Well-planned, doublewide sidewalks meander through this neighborhood of about 240 homes on 60 acres.  On our stroll, we passed by two very large community garden plots that border the community on two sides.  Residents are given as much space in the garden as he or she needs to grow their own fruits and vegetables.  One of the residents supports himself by growing enough on his plot to sell to local stores.  In addition, many residents have kitchen gardens in their small backyard spaces.  As we strolled, we were circling a large park on one side of the village with a playground for kids at one end and a vineyard at the other.   Every house cluster has a sidewalk that leads into this park area.   There is only one main road into the neighborhood that feeds into the dead end roads that stop at each housing cluster.  The road was kept narrow to slow traffic and was planted with overhanging trees to keep the heat absorption of the pavement down.  This helps reduce temperatures in the neighborhood a good 10 degrees.  You can't cruise through this neighborhood without hitting an eventual dead-end.         Houses are arranged in clusters of eight with double-wide sidewalks dividing the backyards instead of the usual front, roadside arrangement.  Running parallel to each sidewalk is a swale to absorb any water runoff.  Water flows into the swale and slowly soaks into the ground, eliminating wasteful runoff.   These swales are common throughout the village. The design proved itself during one of the city's worst floods when its drainage system backed up and overflowed into Village Homes natural drainage system of swales and ponds. When the overflowing water arrived, it simply soaked into the ground, as nature intended, relieving the local streets of floodwater.    Fruit trees line the sidewalks throughout the community.  Fresh fruit and vegetables were available for the picking all over the village. The design works to bring the community closer together.  They say the average Village Homes resident knows approximately 40 neighbors.  Nationwide the number is more like 17.  The crime rate in Village homes is 10% of the city average. All of the homes have north-south facing exposures to take full advantage of solar gain.  Many of the homes use active as well as passive solar for there energy needs.  The homes are all different in style and size. Residents of this village rarely move.  Many have had additions added on so they wouldn't have to move out of the village to accommodate space needs.  A counsel of at least 5 immediate neighbors approves the additions.  If they approve, the addition is a go.  The average home value in the village is 25% higher on the average than a comparable home in the city of Davis. You can feel the community atmosphere when you walk through Village Homes.  It’s very peaceful, warm, and friendly feeling.   I thought, this is the way neighborhoods, towns, and cities should be designed.   The question is, why aren’t they? We ended our walk at Paul’s backyard.  I felt like I had just walked through a modern Garden of Eden. This is the best example I have seen of how a neighborhood should look and function.  As I said my goodbyes to Paul, his last words to me were, "spread the word," and Paul, I intend to.